The blood moon eclipse

By Khwaish Nagpal

It was a dark, lonely, and mysterious night with an impalpable haunting silence. A silence that is soft and breezy like air but feels heavy when you hear it. A silence that signifies the night of novelty, The night of a rare astronomical event, the Blood Moon eclipse.

 A spooky sleepover was held between friends Lora, Mel, Stanley, Ranger, Catherine, and Greg. The silence continued through the room as everyone was waiting for the pizza. Therefore, to break the silence, Stanley asked “I have heard that the last week of the year is the spookiest and ghosts wander around like ethereal Specters during this time”.

 “Yea…I have also heard it; this is a very famous thing and today is 27^th December” Lora continued with a frightened voice. 

“Shut up guys! Stanley has always been a fraidy child, even smaller than Mrs. Smith’s 2-year-old granddaughter. And Lora, you are wrong, it’s not a famous thing but a famous ‘rumour’”. Interrupted Greg, “It’s all because of Mel’s spooky room decoration plus Mel’s parents are also out”. Let’s just enjoy this moment and party and I don’t believe in those classic ghost stories, that there is someone else in the mirror, a doll comes to life, things fall on their own, getting killed in the hostel etc. ” 

While listening to the conversation Mel mischievously added “So, let me tell you guys the tale about the Blood Moon eclipse.” A long time ago… to be precise, 2 centuries ago, in the year 1822, A man from Australia…” “Stop stop stop!” Shouted Ranger in a high-pitched voice “You traitor! How can you tell a story about an Australian man, while you are living in Canada.’

Catherine replied, “Ranger let your patriotism for Canada erupt later, it’s a true story so it can’t change, Mel you continue”.  “Thanks Catherine, so, yeah, I was saying that in 1821, a man from Australia came to Canada on the 402 C Street, yup, that’s the same street we all live on, it was the night of blood moon eclipse, the man saw a woman dressed in…”

 “White, having inverted feet, right?   Greg interrupted again “No,” Mel continued “she was dressed in blood-red costume, she had a voice as sweet as sugar, her hands were as cold as ice and her eyes were as red as cherries. She grabbed a man walking on the street by his shoulders, and he couldn’t move, he somehow escaped and went to his hotel room. While he was in the room, a knock gave him a shiver, It was the same lady with some zombies riding on horses, and that man was never seen again, You won’t believe that something similar, happened with an Indian girl, in 1921 she was just sitting in a library and was mysteriously missing or …maybe killed.” finished Mel. 

For the first time everyone could see Greg’s legs shiver while listening to the story, Greg freaked with fear when he felt two hands grabbing his shoulder, but he was relieved to see Lora. All of them were having fun sharing spooky stories and looking for the blood-red moon to come out, while others were looking for the moon through the telescope and were enjoying candies. Suddenly, the haunted silence once again approached the room with a loud, harsh knock on the door.

 “Greg go and open the door, it was a rumour, right? So go and open the door” said Lora with a shaky voice. After a discussion and the knock getting louder and louder, Ranger decided to go and open the door Stanley assured him “Whatever will be there, we will face it together”. The countdown began under Ranger’s voice “3….2…1 and!” “Martha! Gosh! Boy! We thought there was a ghost, girl is that a pizza with you.

I got it, you are here to deliver our pizza”, said Catherine. Martha replied “Thank you for ordering pizza from Aroma your bill is already paid by Mel Bowen. While saying bye to Martha, everyone realised that no one had seen Ranger after he opened the door, which meant he was… missing. A great hurry filled the room, questions were asked one after another. But no one had any answer. Everyone’s heart went pit-a-pat. The silence that was maintained for a few seconds was now broken by a loud thunder, The flower vase fell off the table and was shattered into pieces and the windows were swaying with the light breeze, suddenly a bolt of lightning informed the arrival of a thunderstorm.

Stanley – “guys, I’m telling you, I think ghost has eaten Ranger with fries and now he is here to eat us all with a large margarita pizza and a 1 litre cola.” “Ru.Ru..Rubbish! These are all rubbish th..things” Catherine exclaimed with a terrified voice. Suddenly, a shadow of a figure could be seen, near the window. 

Upon calling, a thin voice answered: “Aaa..,Eh!” 

At a slow pace, the figure came out of the darkness, It was Ranger, but, he was behaving really strange and uncanny. He was sitting with both his hands wrapped around his legs, giving himself a gentle push. He was making preternatural noises. A huge silence filled the room, Ranger stood up and said “Twinkle…twinkle…little star…how I wonder……”  Everyone was afraid and were wondering what had happened to Ranger. A loud and harsh knock came on the door, “Open” mouthed Ranger as soon he heard the knock “I said open it!” 

A woman dressed in blood red colour, with a voice as sweet as sugar, she said: “Hello…Ello ello…., Seems like Staley is next after Ranger and Mel” Greg Said: “Mel?”

Aaaaaah! Help!” A noise echoed through the room. It was Mel. She could not be seen. Then, a bird came flying through one side of the room’s window and went outside from the second window of the other side of the room, as the bird flew, Catherine started to behave like Ranger too, and as suspected, Stanley started to behave like a…zombie. Greg took no time to realize that next was his turn, with a strong pumping heart, he ran away, he ran and ran until he could not see the street anymore. 

Greg’s father had been a magician in his early college days. He once had found a time turner, Greg took no time taking out the time turner, only to find it broken. Now, he had no option but to contact the Martians for help.